Cova Dones, located in Millares (Valencia), continues to reveal key insights into symbolic practices and the human use of underground spaces throughout different historical periods. A research team made up of archaeologists from the Universities of Alicante (UA) and Zaragoza (Unizar) has identified over one hundred stalagmite formations that were intentionally modified by human activity—also known as speleofacts—inside the cave.

This discovery demonstrates how prehistoric communities adapted their environment and establishes the site as the second most important in the world in this category, surpassed only by the French cave of Saint-Marcel.

Speleofacts—formed by the intentional breaking, rearranging or regrouping of stalagmites into structures—offer compelling evidence of the planned occupation of subterranean environments by prehistoric societies. As the researchers explain, “The presence of calcite regrowths on some of the fractures suggests that these interventions can be attributed, at least in part, to prehistoric periods—a hypothesis currently being explored through a multidisciplinary study.” A key example of the relevance of such finds is the cave of Bruniquel in France, where similar elements were dated and proven to be the work of Neanderthals, thus demonstrating their use of underground spaces.

Cova Dones is increasingly recognised as a unique archaeological site of international relevance, with each excavation campaign bringing further exceptional discoveries. In 2024, the team identified the first speleofacts inside the cave, prompting the involvement of Iñaki Intxaurbe Alberdi—a postdoctoral researcher specialising in this type of archaeological evidence, affiliated with the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the University of Bordeaux.

During the current campaign, “the expert has confirmed the presence of at least one hundred speleofacts,” as researchers from UA and Unizar explained. “Their study will be expanded through geomorphological and archaeological analyses, alongside an extensive dating programme, to determine the precise extent and chronology of these structures.”

A window to humanity’s past

This latest discovery adds to the exceptional archaeological wealth already documented within the cave. In 2023, the academic journal Antiquity reported that Cova Dones contains the largest collection of Palaeolithic cave art found along the eastern Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, with more than one hundred paintings and engravings dating back approximately 24,000 years. Shortly afterwards, the existence of a Roman sanctuary was revealed in one of the cave’s deeper chambers, featuring a series of inscriptions and a coin from the reign of Emperor Claudius.

Research team

The archaeological work at Cova Dones is led by PhD Virginia Barciela González, researcher at the University of Alicante’s Institute for Archaeological and Historical Heritage Research (INAPH), and PhD Aitor Ruiz-Redondo, from the University of Zaragoza’s Institute for Environmental Science Research of Aragon (IUCA), as part of the DONARQ project.

This season’s campaign has included contributions from researchers Iñaki Intxaurbe Alberdi, a specialist in geomorphology and karst transformations; Ximo Martorell Briz, an expert in prehistoric art; Jorge Angás and Carlos Valladares, specialists in geomatics; Silvia Alfayé and Víctor Sabaté, experts in Roman sanctuaries and epigraphy; and Neemias Santos da Rosa, a specialist in taphonomy.